Movies and video games have a weird, inscestuous, and often unfortunate relationship. Dozens of movies take their plo... Show More »

Movies and video games have a weird, inscestuous, and often unfortunate relationship. Dozens of movies take their plots of existing video games. "Silent Hill: Revelation 3D" is just latest example. There's also "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within," "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time," multiple "Resident Evil" flicks, "Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life" the list goes on. Unfortunately, most of these movies are dreadful, directed by Uwe Boll, or both.

And just about every movie that has elements of action, adventure, superheroes, fantasy, sci fi or a young audience gets repurposed as a video game. Some of these games are fun. Some are slapped-together attempts to make a few more bucks off a hit movie. Are any of them advancing the cause of video games as art? We'll let the gamer geeks fight over that question.

Then there are those movies based on a video game that doesn't actually exist. "Wreck-It Ralph" is the latest entry into this canon. The hulking 8-bit bad guy decides he wants to be a hero, so he takes off into a world of first-person shooters, sugar-coated kids games, and more to find his purpose. It's getting great reviews -- and yes, it has already inspired a real video game. It's the circle of entertainment life. « Less

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'Tron':

The 1982 film pioneered the sucked-inside-the-video-game story, and made it look good. Sure, some of the plot points were hokey... Show More »

The 1982 film pioneered the sucked-inside-the-video-game story, and made it look good. Sure, some of the plot points were hokey, but who cares when things look this stylish? This movie made a generation of gamers lust ofter light cycles -- and their devotion to the flick spawned a sequel almost three decades later. « Less

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'Nightmares':

"Tron" made life in a video game look awesome. "Nightmares," a horror anthology film released in 1983, made it look schlo... Show More »

"Tron" made life in a video game look awesome. "Nightmares," a horror anthology film released in 1983, made it look schlocky. "The Bishop of Battle" features a young Emilio Estevez as a video-game junkie who breaks into an arcade to try to make it to the impossible level 13 of his favorite game. The game breaks out to meet him -- and things don't end well for him. « Less

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'WarGames':

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'The Last Starfighter':

What's the best way to test out someone's mad savior-of-the-galaxy skillz? With an 8-bit arcade game,... Show More »

What's the best way to test out someone's mad savior-of-the-galaxy skillz? With an 8-bit arcade game, of course! That's the premise of this 1984 flick, which took the high-scorer on the fake game 'Starfighter' and put him in the cockpit of an actual spacecraft. Cue the battles, the betrayals, and the bumbling android double wandering around a trailer park. « Less

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'Cloak and Dagger':

Spy games meet video games in this flick from 1984, which takes a kid obsessed with an espionage game, adds in real... Show More »

Spy games meet video games in this flick from 1984, which takes a kid obsessed with an espionage game, adds in real spies, and sprinkles in father and son reconciliation to boot. Henry Thomas of 'E.T.' fame plays the game-obsessed kid, whose unfortunate habit of getting immersed in the fantasy world means no one believes him when he witnesses a very real murder and is entrusted with ... a video game cartridge containing military secrets. « Less

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'Arcade':

Fast forward about a decade, and Hollywood comes back to the sucked-into-a-video-game plot -- but instead of a light-hearted ... Show More »

Fast forward about a decade, and Hollywood comes back to the sucked-into-a-video-game plot -- but instead of a light-hearted adventure, this 1993 movie takes a turn into horror. When you lose a game of Arcade, you're trapped in a virtual-reality world ruled by a dead boy whose brain cells power the game. Sure, why not. « Less

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'Brainscan':

A computer game that uses hypnosis to construct a different scenario for each player may be prompting people to commit ver... Show More »

A computer game that uses hypnosis to construct a different scenario for each player may be prompting people to commit very real murders. Or maybe not -- it could just the game. Or is it? Lather, rinse and repeat several times, and you've got the gist of this 1994 movie, starring Edward Furlong and Frank Langella. « Less

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'eXistenZ':

The video-game movie gets freaky -- and annoyingly capitalized -- when director David Cronenberg enters the fray in 1999. H... Show More »

The video-game movie gets freaky -- and annoyingly capitalized -- when director David Cronenberg enters the fray in 1999. His triply tale involves organic guns, umbilical game systems, deformed reality, and enough what-is-real moments to keep you scratching your head for days. « Less

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'Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over':

The 'Spy Kids' franchise entered the world of video games with its third outing in 2003. Sylvester... Show More »

The 'Spy Kids' franchise entered the world of video games with its third outing in 2003. Sylvester Stallone plays a villain imprisoned in cyberspace who hatches an escape plan involving a virtual reality game and a passel of giant robots. No, it doesn't make much sense. « Less

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'Stay Alive':

The 2006 horror flick revolves around what is basically a haunted game: If you die in the game, you'll die the same ... Show More »

The 2006 horror flick revolves around what is basically a haunted game: If you die in the game, you'll die the same way in real life. Blood-drinking Elizabeth Bathory is involved, and there are weird carriages and wild roses, spooky towers and summoning prayers ... it's pretty much a mess. « Less

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'Gamer' :

This 2009 flick takes us to a future where third-person shooters and real-life simulations aren't done with figures on a... Show More »

This 2009 flick takes us to a future where third-person shooters and real-life simulations aren't done with figures on a screen -- they're done with real people. Nanites allow players to control death-row prisoners as they battle for their lives ... and somehow no one's thought much about the reality of this, or about how easy it would be to use those nannies to control someone who wasn't in jail for murder. « Less